THE YORK BRIEF ⏰ Monday, 26 October 2026

Morning, York. Storm Boelo has blown through, leaving a £70,000 tree-shaped mess on Holgate Road and hundreds of homes without power. Also today: the city centre's street drinking rules go before councillors tonight, a York College student has outfoxed the rats on the railway, and York City are back to winning ways.

🌬️ Storm Boelo's clean-up: power cuts, a fallen tree and a rising Ouse

Storm Boelo battered York on Sunday with gusts of around 60mph, and the city is waking up to the clean-up. More than 300 homes in the Strensall area lost power, along with homes in Osbaldwick, Derwenthorpe and Dunnington, and Northern Powergrid said more than 93,000 of its customers across its area had been hit, with almost 51,000 back on by Sunday afternoon. Overnight into Sunday a huge tree came down on four parked cars and the front windows of Astor Hostels on Holgate Road; nobody was hurt, guests were moved, and the road was closed until about 1.30pm while two fire crews and tree surgeons cleared it. Tony Castle of Castle Tree Surgeons called the tree "absolutely rotten and an accident waiting to happen" and put the damage at "somewhere in the region of £70,000". Clifford's Tower, Museum Gardens and the Yorkshire Museum all shut for the day, with English Heritage refunding prebooked tickets automatically and York Museums Trust contacting its visitors. The River Ouse was also rising after the rain and was expected to peak at almost 2.3m on the Viking Recorder at about 7am today, around 0.4m above the top of its normal range, so riverside paths may be soggy. Across Yorkshire, the BBC reports 36 flights to and from Leeds Bradford Airport were cancelled on Sunday.

👉 Read more: York Press — storm round-up · York Press — Holgate Road tree · BBC News — Storm Boelo in Yorkshire

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📰 NEWS

🍺 City centre street drinking rules go before councillors tonight

The council's People Scrutiny Committee meets today (Monday 26 October) to look at plans to beef up the alcohol-related public space protection order (PSPO) in the city centre. More than 500 people responded to the consultation in August and September, and the council says there's strong support for extra controls on anti-social behaviour, though a significant minority worried about criminalising homelessness and pushing problems elsewhere. The new three-year order wouldn't make the area any bigger, but it would keep the existing alcohol rule and add further conditions aimed at the behaviours people raised. The final decision is due at the council's Executive on 3 November.

👉 Read the full story at City of York Council

🐀 York College student outsmarts the railway rats

Engineering student Jackson Hall came up with a polycarbonate screen to stop rats and other animals chewing through electric cables at ageing signal boxes while on a work placement with York design consultancy AGH Engineering. Network Rail has already fitted it at two signal boxes in the Leeds area, with plans for 63 more. Jackson has been offered a job at AGH when he finishes his T-Level, and principal engineer Adam Wood called the invention "impressive". Not bad for a college project.

👉 Read the full story at BBC News

🚂 Railway Museum opens a shortcut entrance

No more 400m detour to get into the National Railway Museum. A temporary entrance has opened on Hudson Boulevard, the walking and cycling route near Station Hall, with a direct route through South Yard, so visitors no longer have to trek round to the Leeman Road entrance while building work goes on. It'll stay until the new permanent entrance at Central Hall opens in 2028, which will give the museum level access for the first time in its history. Handy timing for half-term.

👉 Read the full story at BBC News

🚑 Cyclist taken to hospital after Boroughbridge Road crash

A person was taken to Leeds General Infirmary after a crash involving a cyclist and a car on Boroughbridge Road, near Plantation Drive and the Texaco petrol station, at about 7pm on Saturday. Yorkshire Ambulance Service sent an ambulance and a team leader to the scene. Drivers reported delays of up to 90 minutes, and several rail replacement buses heading for York station were caught in the traffic.

👉 Read the full story at York Press

☕ A second chance at Chocolate & Co

The York Press has spoken to a young York man, given the name Em-Jay, about how his ketamine use began when he left for university and how he found recovery and a job at Chocolate & Co, the social enterprise café on Lowther Street in The Groves that supports people recovering from addiction. It follows a Ketamine Awareness Week campaign led by City of York Council, North Yorkshire Council, North Yorkshire Police and local health services. North Yorkshire Police say ketamine use among young people nationally rose by 231% between 2013 and 2024. Help is listed at nyrise.org.uk, and Samaritans are free to call any time on 116 123.

👉 Read the full story at York Press

🚲 E-bike confiscated after James Street ride

A 29-year-old man from Roche Avenue, off Huntington Road, has had his Allegro e-bike confiscated after pleading guilty to riding it without insurance on James Street on 1 January. York magistrates also gave him six penalty points, an £80 fine, £130 costs and a £32 surcharge. The Press says these e-bikes cost more than £1,000 new.

👉 Read the full story at York Press

🏙️ AROUND THE CITY

⚽ A York bar just for women's sport

Friends Hattie Dillon, 22, and Erin Draper, 23, have opened Hera Social, a café-bar in York thought to be the first in Yorkshire dedicated to women's sport. Expect WSL matches, WTA tennis and the women's U17 World Cup, though men's Premier League games and F1 Academy also get a look in. "If fans of women's sport were to ask for the WSL game on a busy Saturday, it's very likely the men's game would take priority," says Dillon. It's their first go at running a hospitality business, and they want it to be somewhere you can turn up on your own and have a natter.

👉 Read the full story at BBC News

🧹 Acomb's Witches' Den wants your sweets

Lynda Starkey, 76, is appealing for sweet donations for The Witches' Den, her free Halloween spectacular in the front garden of Camellia Cottage on Kingsway West, Acomb. It's open from 9am to 9pm on Halloween and has run (with a few breaks) since 1986. This year's theme is magic, with a new Harry Potter-inspired House of Wands, Witches and Worms, plus the ever-popular Marshmallow hedge. Lynda says she wants to give children "the feeling of Disneyland".

👉 Read the full story at York Press

🦇 The York Dungeon is now (briefly) a tattoo studio

The York Dungeon turned its Torture Room into a licensed tattoo studio on Wednesday night, with six brave "victims" inked by local artist Emma Swanton of Swan Tattoos. The woodcut-style designs were inspired by the attraction's new Halloween show, Mother Shipton: The Great Prophetess, and each one included a £30 donation to charity partner Merlin's Magic Wand. Commitment to the bit, that.

👉 Read the full story at York Press

📱 York graduate's app for seasonal jobs

University of York graduate Aiden Tonyy has launched Seasonly, an app for finding seasonal work that you swipe through and use to contact employers directly. He built it with support from the Phase One Incubator at York Science Park and talked to more than 120 York businesses before launch. A pilot group of York restaurants and food stalls is already on board, and it's free for early users. Perfect timing with the Christmas temp season round the corner.

👉 Read the full story at York Press

⚽ SPORT

York City 2-0 Port Vale: an "ugly" win, and fifth place

City ended a run of three 1-1 draws on Saturday, with Zak Johnson's stunning 54th-minute volley and an Alex Hunt finish from Arthur Read's delivery. The win lifts Scott Lindsey's side to fifth in League Two, a point off the automatic promotion places. Fulham loanee Alfie McNally was man of the match with a string of big saves and his third clean sheet of the season. "It's an ugly win, we got over the line," he told BBC York. It's the first of three games in seven days, so no rest for the Minstermen.

👉 Read more: York Press — match report · York Press — McNally

Leo Atang goes 9-0 with a first-round knockout

York heavyweight Leo Atang, 19, stopped Argentina's Jonathan Vergara in the first round on Saturday's Dalton Smith v Alberto Puello undercard, after three knockdowns. It's the eighth knockout of his unbeaten pro career, and his first fight since moving from Legion's Boxing Gym in York to Stephen Smith's gym in Liverpool. Next up: Monaco on 12 December, at a black-tie event.

👉 Read the full story at York Press

🎭 CULTURE

🐕 Curious Incident, with a twist, at the Grand Opera House

A gender-swapped reboot of The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time arrives at the Grand Opera House from Tuesday 27 to Saturday 31 October, with Chris Boone now played by Alex Keenan (and matinee alternate Imi Price). Joe McFadden plays dad Ed and Charlie Brooks plays mum Judy. Shows are at 7.30pm, plus 2.30pm matinees on Wednesday and Saturday.

👉 Read the full story at York Press

🎤 Leo Sayer's last big tour, and Levellers sell out

Leo Sayer, now 78, brings what could be his final full UK tour to York Barbican on Friday 30 October at 7.30pm, though he insists he's "not retiring, just slowing the number of live shows down a little". If you fancied Levellers there the night before, bad news: Thursday's gig has sold out.

👉 Read the full story at York Press

🎄 The Enormous Christmas Pudding for little ones

Story Craft Theatre is bringing The Enormous Christmas Pudding to the York Theatre Royal Studio from 16 to 31 December, a woodland adventure for children with puppetry, shadow puppetry, Makaton signing and an original score. The company says that for some children it'll be their very first trip to the theatre. Yes, we're already mentioning Christmas. Sorry.

👉 Read the full story at York Press

📅 THIS WEEK IN YORK

🏛️ People Scrutiny Committee looks at the city centre PSPO plans today (Monday 26 October).

🎨 SPARK half-term: the Halloween art competition for Door84 runs from today at 12pm to Friday at 3pm, with craft workshops today and a sensory space trial Tuesday to Thursday, 10am to 2.30pm.

🎃 Halloween In Concert brings Monster Mash, Thriller and the Time Warp to York Barbican on Tuesday 27 October at 7.30pm.

🖤 The Addams Family Musical from Wharfemede Productions is at Theatre@41, Monkgate, Tuesday to Saturday at 7.30pm, plus a 2.30pm Saturday matinee.

🧪 Jekyll & Hyde: Unbound, Christopher Leslie's one-man show, is at York Medical Society on Stonegate, Tuesday to Friday at 7.30pm.

🔒 The Strongbox from York Actors Collective has its York premiere at the Theatre Royal Studio from Thursday 29 to Saturday 31 October.

🧹 The Witches' Den opens on Kingsway West, Acomb, from 9am to 9pm on Halloween (Saturday 31 October).

🚌 No York–Leeds trains until Sunday 1 November while the Church Fenton bridge work goes on. Rail replacement buses run instead.

👉 Read more: York Press — what's on · York Press — SPARK half-term · City of York Council — PSPO · York Press — no York–Leeds trains

🎨 AND FINALLY...

Most of us can barely hang on to a pint at the front of a gig. York artist Sam Joesbury, 22, does his best work in the mosh pit. He started sketching at concerts last year as a bit of a laugh, and now draws at several gigs a week, sharing his work online with thousands of fans. He's currently on tour with Basht, and his favourite subjects so far include Turnstile at the Piece Hall, Fontaines D.C. at Leeds Festival and Kneecap, who he describes as "just crazy". "It was all a bit of a joke and a laugh until I realised no one else is doing this and it is actually really fun," he says. Steady hands, that lad.

👉 Read the full story at BBC News